


Dads Against Daughters Dating

by TriniTea



Series: The Pieces of Our Story [6]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson is Skye's Dad, F/M, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 02:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13672608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriniTea/pseuds/TriniTea
Summary: In all of the years that Ward has known Phil Coulson he has learn two important facts about the man; one, he is the biggest Captain America fan you will ever meet, and two, he identifies as a 'DADD', better known as 'Dads Against Daughters Dating'.Unfortunately for Ward, he's fallen in love with daughter. Which means to get to Skye's heart he needs to go through Coulson.





	Dads Against Daughters Dating

**Author's Note:**

> So I got an anon request an embarrassingly long time ago to write this "As Coulson is kinda Skye's dad - I beg of you, write a thing where he asks Coulson's permission to date Skye and Coulson does some dad thing like cleaning his guns. PLEASE! I think such things are hilarious, and it would be so cute to see Ward all fidgety and nervous about making a good impression as a potential boyfriend." And though it took me three months, after secretly writing during class, I am finally done!
> 
> So enjoying! And if anyone wants to make requests, comment, or send it to my inbox trinitea-fics on Tumblr! Though I can't guarantee I will write it in a timely manner.
> 
> Also Happy Valentine's Day.

In all of the years that Ward has known Phil Coulson he has learn two important facts about the man; one, he is the biggest Captain America fan you will ever meet, and two, he identifies as a 'DADD', better known as 'Dads against daughters dating'.

He distinctly remembers the first time he witnessed Coulson's DADD-ing at work. It was during his second year at the Academy, Skye was in the year behind him and Coulson was a guest instructor for one of his ops courses. There was this kid, Lincoln, he was nice guy, smart, attractive, also inhuman and had a thing for Skye. When he tried asking her out, and out of nowhere Coulson burst into the room and demanded to talk to Lincoln. Ward isn't totally sure what went down, probably something that involved threatening the poor boy with Coulson's level seven status. No matter how that talk went it's irrelevant now, because he hasn't seen Lincoln since and isn't even sure is he stayed with the Academy. Skye was upset but got over it, apparently this has been happening since she was in high school, maybe even early than that.

So when Ward finally realized he's desperately in love with Coulson's daughter, he know he had to prepare for Hell.

He's not exactly the guy to actively seek out romantic relationships, at least not before and with his job settling down in the suburbs wasn't the first thing that crossed his mind while getting trying not to get shot . . . So why did he have to fall for Coulson's daughter? Coulson only daughter to make matters even worse?

He needs a plan to prove himself as 'boyfriend material' to try and survive, which is good because he likes precise plans for fragile ops (especially when those plans go as planned). Then as he really thought about it, the more it got to his head that there are so many ways that this could go horribly.

He needs back up (and possibly an extraction team if things go as horribly as he sees it playing out in his head)

…

"It's simple really," Hunter explains, a hand on his hip, the other vaguely gesturing in Ward's direction. "Wait until Coulson's captured or something, save his life and when he says _"If there's any way I can repay you"_ ask him for permission to go on a date with Skye. Easy! Also Skye will be so amazed that you saved her father that you'll probably be in for a treat." Hunter's eyebrows moving suggestively.

Ward leans against the holatable, already fed up with the other man's nonsense, "And that's supposed to help how?" Ward deadpans.

"You're getting exactly what you want; Coulson's approval and Skye in your pants," he states if it were apparent.

"Shut up Hunter," Ward hisses. "You think I'm waiting for Coulson to get kidnapped? Is that how you scored your _'She -Devil ex-wife'_? Why are you even giving the advice, you're divorced and have been in an on-and-off-again relationship with your ex-wife that you wouldn't shut up about how much you hated when you first got here." Maybe that's a little too much, his teammate's personal life and choices aren't his to judge, but he's been sick of this little pep talk Hunter has been giving him since he opened his mouth. Plus this is doing nothing to help all the anxiety of confronting Coulson, if anything it's making it worse.

"Bobbi and I are on good terms now thank-you-very-much, so if you're playing the long game, you will want to listen to my advice," Hunter responds defensively.

Ward rolls his eyes and turns to the people he actually sought out.

"FitzSimmons, a little help here?"

"Well he is on the right track, sort of," Jemma speaks as she pushes herself out of her chair. "You have to earn Coulson's favour and the easiest ways it to do the odd job for him; grab him coffee, get on that agent he's been meaning to—"

"Impress him with Captain America knowledge," Fitz chimes it, still focused tinkering with miscellaneous scraps at his workstation.

"Yes, Cap knowledge, stuff that you know he likes, or is hard and you'd be giving him a much need break. Then after, just ask him permission to ask Skye on a date. You've buttered him up by then and you will successfully survive the DADD," Simmons explains, a hint of excitement in her voice.

Ward pauses, that seems so . . . simple, that is honestly the first thing he thought of and the first thing he dismissed. It's simplicity is undoubtedly appealing, but it also means that it could go so wrong in so many ways, but it's not like he has another option. Well, Hunter's kidnapping idea seems like an decent possibility now.

Ward sighs as he stops his racing thoughts and decided on a course of action, "I'll try. Wish me luck, I'll need it."

…

Ward takes a deep breath as he stares at the door with a frosted glass window reading "Director P. Coulson" in bold, black letters. The only way to Skye's heart is through this door. He's disabled bomb, he's shot targets from two blocks away, he can impress Phil Coulson . . . right? He shakes his wrists, trying to loosen the tension building up which was becoming the only thing he could focus on.

_He can do this._

_He is Agent Grant Douglas Ward, one of SHIELD's greatest specialist and a man of great control and confidence._

_He can do this._

He rasps his fist against the door, to be responded with "Come in" a few seconds later. Taking one final gulp of air before opening the door just enough to slip through.

"Sir," he greets, cool, calm and collected, just stay like this and he'll be fine.

"Agent Ward," Coulson looks up from his paperwork and towards him and Ward prays that Coulson doesn't see him stiffen when their eyes meet. "What can I do for you?"

"I was actually wondering what I could do for you," his voice as steady as he could force it to be. He can already feel his palms become sweaty. God he doesn't think he's endured worse torture. "I'm currently off duty and I was wondering if I could head a hand, if you need one."

He can point out every word that was off in that sentence that just came out of his mouth; every split second of hesitation, every flux in his tone and all he can hope for is that Coulson can't see right through the mask that he's trying so desperately to hide behind.

Coulson pauses, looking around his desk momentary. "If you really wanted to, I could scrap you up a few things to do, I know how you hate being unproductive."

"I would appreciate that very much sir," Ward replies, taking a step towards Coulon's desk. The opening to this dance is done, just have to survive the rest of the act.

_He is Agent Grant Douglas Ward, one of SHIELD's greatest specialist and a man of great control and confidence._

_He can do this._

…

Ward carefully picks up Coulson's signed Captain America picture with one hand and carefully spays the glass and wipes it with the other. He's finally gotten his hands to stop shaking, which thank the lord he was able to manage. If he were to drop any of Coulson's collectibles, he'd be probably kissing his statue as a free man goodbye.

Maybe Skye will visit him at the prison that Coulson would ship him off to, or the desert base with no human beings for miles.

He's already been here for a half an hour and he's spoken about twenty words? He's probably has done nothing to make a good impression on Coulson and this silence is awkward as Hell which is doing nothing to help. He needs to at least say something, even though he knows that he'll be on edge the entire time his mouth is open.

What advice did FitzSimmons give, what advice did they give . . .

Oh! Captain America facts that's it!

And before he really thinks the words, "You know, Steve Rogers was born in Brooklyn," come out of his mouth.

Utter regret and shame washes over him as the words register in his ears.

He just—just freaking . . . God he told the biggest Cap fan something you would find at the top of a Wikipedia page! Dammit . . . Dammit he messed up!

He tries to keep a straight face and somehow stop the red colour from shading his cheeks. Coulson glaces up from his paperwork and Ward's toes are fidgeting in his shoe, trying to conceal the fact that he is mortified, his anxiety is at new highs and he can hear his heart pounding in his chest .

"I know."

He's Agent Grant Ward, he does he best under pressure. "I just thought that is was kind of cool, that Captain America is from around here," Ward quickly adds, reaching at all straws that could possibly save his skin.

"Yeah, that's why he's called Captain America."

Yeah of course! Great job Agent Ward!

Why does he have to be so bad at this?

Ward turns back to the shelf, takes the microfiber cloth and wipes down the shelf. All while trying to mask the fact that he's sweating from the pure agony this is bring to him.

Knowing these Cap facts were supposed to be his trump card! How is he supposed to impress Coulson now? But really, why did he even think that would impress him. The guy probably write half of those Captain America fanpages online, what fact could impress him?

"Ward are you alright? You seem a little tense, which isn't very good for a specialist," Coulson inquires and Ward wishes that base went into lockdown or that aliens suddenly attacked, anything to get him out of his conversations.

He waits, prays for a moment, but unlike all of the other inconveniently timed disasters one doesn't come when he needs it most. Go figure.

Ward turns toward him, though never making direct eye contact with Coulson, being too afraid to do so.

"I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all."

Coulson nods back before and Ward turns back to the the shelves, realizing the breath that he didn't know he was holding. He has never been so thankful that he's a top tier liar. Ward takes a moment to collect himself before continuing to dust the objects in front of him.

Why did he have to fall for Skye?

…

When Ward finishes alphabetizing Coulson's bookcase and binders, he laces his fingers together and stretches them above his head. He's been at the director's office for three hours and he hasn't even had a successful conversation that lasted more than a minute with the man. He'll just have to keep on going at it.

"Anything else sir?" he offers, as much as it pains him to do so.

Coulson gazes up to the other man and shrugs. "I can't think of anything and I think you've done more than enough." His eyes meets Ward's and he can feel his heart skip a beat. "I don't see why you're here, especially a man of your age. You should have better things to do instead of staying at the office with me."

Ward forces out a laugh. "You know me, I have nothing really better to do—"

Three knocks sound against the door, interrupting him. Both of their heads snap towards the noise.

"It's open," Coulson calls.

The door quietly squeezes open to become very bad movie cliche; Skye standing at the door, the light shining on her back and a breeze-coming from seemingly nowhere-blowing her hair from off of her shoulders. Ward can't tell he's imagining or not, but either way he's absolutely screwed.

"Hey dad." Skye steps into the room, bearing two coffee cups and closes the door behind her with the swing of her hip. "Hey Ward, am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all, Ward just is helping me out with some cleaning and stuff."

"If I knew that you were here, I would have brought you coffee too," She walks past Ward to place the tall disposable cut in front of her father's paperwork.

"It's alright Skye." Just saying her name nearly makes him smile.

"Oh right, aren't you all "I can't have caffeine, my body is a temple" or some crap like that?" Skye mocks with the slight roll of her eyes and a smirk.

Ward snickers. "Yeah, some crap like that."

"I'm picking you up for dinner correct?" Coulson questions Skye.

"Yep, as far as I know," She smiles, glancing back and forth between Ward and Coulson.

"Well, I actually better get going, or Agent Hand is going to be on my ass."

She leans over Coulson's desk, giving the older man a peck on the forehead. "Bye dad." She turns to Ward and takes him by surprise by kissing him too on the forehead. Even as just a brush of her lips he feels the skin beneath burning. "Bye Ward."

She leaves the same way she came, basically confirming the fact that Ward is hallucinating about her goddess-like presence (but in his mind she still is).

(He also hopes he's not drooling)

(He checks, thankfully he was dreaming about that too)

After the door closes Coulson asks, "You two aren't a couple, are you?" with a serious tone on his tongue.

Ward unsuccessfully swallows the lump in his throat, fakes a laugh and stammers. "Of course not, why would you think of that sir?" God, Coulson probably saw right through that! What is he doing?!

"The kiss on the forehead," Coulson clarifies, "But it's probably just Skye being Skye."

"Yeah, probably just that." There's a beat, an awkward pause where Ward can feel the tension in the room rushing through his bones.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" he blurts out, an offers which he immediately regrets.

"Umm, yeah, I can probably find you something to do."

Ward wishes from nothing more than to hurl himself out of one of the windows. Good God, the things he does for love.

…

He can't feel his fingers anymore.

Ward offered to clean Coulson's guns, still attempting to win the man's affections. Big mistake on his part, because do you know how many guns this man owns? Ward stopped counting after twenty, the amount of ways Coulson could kill him started going to his head.

He knows if he makes a wrong move it's game over. He knows that Coulson knows all of his guns inside out and he will notice a mis-assembled or piece bent out of its place. Some of the guns Coulson doesn't even use, they are instead vintage collectibles that Ward has to be just that more careful clearing, knowing that his SHIELD salary will not cover the cost of most of these antiques. Ward would honestly rather be disarming a bomb.

More than ever he's praying that Coulson will approve, not just because he wants to be with Skye, but also because it would hate himself if all of these hours of work went to waste.

…

He finishes putting all of Coulson's gun back into place, just like how he found them. Coulson still sits at his desk, long done his paperwork (Ward's almost positive he's scrolling through Captain America related posts on Twitter and has been for the last hour or so).

"Sir, I'm done," Ward speaks up.

Coulson looks away from his desktop screen and flashes a smile at the other man. "Thank you, and before you ask, I don't have anything else for you to do; my office practically looks like new."

Ward opens his mouth to speak, about to ask Coulson for permission to date his daughter, he's finally facing the DADD!

Then a split second of second guessing strikes.

He doesn't have a chance with her, huh? Why would he?

If Coulson says "no" he'll never get a second chance, never in a million years. Oh man, this has to be one of his biggest idiot moves.

When it dawns upon him that he's probably been standing and staring at Coulson for a good thirty seconds, he mutters a quick, "Have a good night sir," before turning to his escape.

God, he's a moron.

He'd ready to get the hell out of there and hopefully push this experience to the far reaches of his conscious, but upon hearing the words, _"Ward, isn't there something else you wanted to ask me?"_ pass through Coulson's lips, he is paralyzed where he stands.

He feels a heavy feeling setting into his stomach, and a lump forming in this throat, but being unable to deal with it, he turns around. "Excuse me, sir?"

Coulson pauses, lacing his fingers together on the desk. "As good of a specialist you are, I can still tell you're only here to say . . . get me to like you so you can date my daughter, huh?"

Ward can feel the mortified expression being plastered on his face. Not knowing what to do he stammers, "No—no sir."

Coulson chuckles, "You are making yourself more obvious, it is very, very clear that you are in love with Skye. Your lying could use some work, we might have to rethink your title of "Best Since Romanoff"." Coulson smiles, contrasting the look of pure panic painted on Ward's face.

"So you're not . . . mad?" Ward asks hesitantly.

"Of course not, why would I be? You're a good agent, a good man. You really didn't have to go through all of this trouble to get me to approve of you because I already do," Coulson explains as he leans back into his chair.

Ward's eyes light up. "So you're-so you're okay with it if I ask Skye out to dinner or something?"

"Of course, actually, if you're up for it I can cancel my plans with her tonight and send you in my place. I think you'll have a good time, Skye is really looking forward to going to this new restaurant, it took me forever to get reservations," he offers.

"Sir, you really don't have—"

"I insist," Coulson interrupts, "After all the hard work you did today."

A smiles forms on Ward's lips. "Thank you sir," he replies.

Coulson takes his cellphone into his hands, "I'll call her to tell her that you will be her date tonight, and that she'll meet you at the east wing exit at about seven, does that sound good?"

"Um—yes, yes it would. Once again, thank you so much sir. I better get ready for tonight then." Ward holds Coulson's gaze for another second before turning to the door.

"Have a nice night. And Ward . . ."

He turns back to the SHIELD Director just as he opens the door.

"Thanks for cleaning up the place and as much as I know you wouldn't hurt Skye, you are aware that I could ship you off to a cold, dark base in Antarctica with only penguins to keep you company and all I have to do is sign a paper, are we clear?" Coulson's eyes narrow down on Ward, but this time he's not the slightest bit afraid (well, sort of, at least less afraid compared to early).

Sure of himself, Ward nods, "Loud and clear sir." Ward steps into the hallway and lets out a deep breath, while leaning his head back and running his hands down his face.

He should be mad for doing all that work for nothing, usually he is, but he is too tired to think too hard it and he's just relieved that he didn't absolutely screw up. Ward knows that he's gonna spend the next week trying to push the most anxiety inducing five hours of his life to the furthest corners of his mind. At least he now has a date with Skye.

_A date with Skye._

Dammit. Now he has to get all worried about that.

But in hindsight it shouldn't there is little chance of it going absolutely terribly, he's already face


End file.
